Countdown
by XxFallenStarsandPaintedWingsxX
Summary: Or, scenes from the story of Thalia Grace and Luke Castellan, from the end to the very beginning.


**Disclaimer: I do not own any Percy Jackson characters. But if you would review, it would make me super happy!**

Countdown

Or, scenes from the story of Thalia Grace and Luke Castellan, from the end to the very beginning.

"_If I read our story backwards, it's about how I un-broke your heart, and then we were happy until one day, you forgot about me forever."_

_~The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories_

10.

The rain is coming down in buckets, soaking her from head to toe. They were right, in the end. Luke Castellan really did break her heart. She takes a deep breath. It smells like rain and city stench, and she looks up to the sky and watches the droplets fall, creating small ripples in the puddles that are already accumulating as they land.

Maybe tomorrow will be sunny.

9.

"Yield!" She screams. "You could never beat me, old friend." But Luke Castellan isn't an old friend. She's not sure he was ever really a friend, but somehow he just slotted himself into her life, and she finds that she isn't ready to let him go. The lightning crashes overhead, lightning like his scar, as he falls like she fell so many years ago.

8.

The one who tells her about Luke's betrayal is Annabeth. She doesn't bat an eye, but the confession seems to trigger something in Annabeth, because she breaks down sobbing. Thalia ends up being the one to hold her, to tell her that it's alright. "We need to be strong for her," she remembers Luke saying once upon a time, so long ago.

It sickens her that she still remembers. It sickens her that she still cares.

7.

"Go!" she cries as Grover and Annabeth race down the hill. "I'll be right behind you!" He turns back to look at her one last time as she becomes rooted to the spot, gnarled bark encasing the pale smooth skin of her face until she is no longer there. He howls, and the sky booms with thunder.

6.

He kisses her, not in the pouring rain, but in a dazzling shower of sunlight and she wonders if the good things never last.

5.

They are a family. Luke, and her and little Annabeth. Sometimes they go to amusement parks and museums on free admission day, three raggedy children looking up at the masterpieces of Monet and Van Gogh and all the greats, the rain pattering on the windows outside.

4.

The little blonde girl sleeps in her seat on the train; head rolled back and resting on the window, tongue lolling out as she dreams. Thalia looks and looks at Luke. He looks back. They stare at each other, and the little girl grows restless and grabs for the handle of the celestial bronze knife.

"Well, I guess we can keep her."

3.

A little known fact about Thalia Grace is that she hates disorder. She is constantly packing and unpacking their things, arranging them by size, shape, and usefulness, inside their latest hideout. Packing them up again when they inevitably leave. Luke never unpacks. He's never stayed in one spot long enough to.

2.

A boy, almost a young man, and a girl who looks older than her years huddle together by a heating grate. He turns to her. "So I guess you and me are on the run now, huh?" She scowls at him. "I guess."

1.

She's cold and tired, standing in the supermarket isle, trying to find out what she can by for $1.20. But everything is too expensive, so she decides to leave, thinking maybe she could dumpster dive. She told herself that she would maintain her dignity, but here she is, alone in the great big city, wet and cold and tired and hungry. She walks out of the supermarket, defeated. Just then, someone taps her on the shoulder. It's a boy with blonde hair and blue eyes. He smiles. "Hungry?" He hands her a sandwich. It's ham and cheese, her favorite, and her mouth waters. Just then, the alarm sounds, and supermarket security begins to surround them. "Come on!" He grabs her small cold hand with his large warm one, and before she realizes what's happening, they take off running down the street.

She doesn't know why she's laughing.

_And, _

0.

Thalia Grace is at a crossroads. She's standing on the street corner, waiting to cross and flipping the rainwater out of her hair. It sticks up in all different directions and does nothing for warmth. She shivers and wraps her threadbare coat around herself. Across the street the light turns green. There's a boy standing on the opposite sidewalk, a stranger with blonde hair and the bluest eyes. His eyes glitter as they make contact with hers and he smiles. She finds herself smiling back. She turns away and looks up at the sky. The rain has stopped, but the clouds still mill about lazily overhead.

She thinks to herself, "maybe tomorrow will be sunny."


End file.
